Different Eyes
by Red's 21st
Summary: Roy and Riza have been reunited in Ishbal and the only witness to the relationship that sparks is a young local woman. Deeply touched by their devotion to one another, she protects them through much of the war with horrid effects on her own loved ones.


**Prologue**

_As the sun cast a fierce glow transforming the blood-stained sand to molten gold, it allowed the city's occupants see for a brief, nostalgic moment, an image– now doomed to only be a memory- of Ishbal in its previous splendour. The blast of dying light shone with such a dull ferocity that eyes had to be shielded from it, yet the image was so captivating that people, both murderers and their victims alike felt compelled to witness it and laid down their arms, if only for a minute. For some, it would be the last time they were to experience the sight, as when the sun lost its lulling hypnosis, their attackers would awaken from their state of awe and continue the assault. The sun would die in moments. Ishballans would continue to die in moments, but unlike the sun, they would not herald a new day. Their absence from the world would be infinite. _

_Infinite was also Irena's unfathomable hatred for the State Military and all its soldiers._

_Finally, the sun blinked out of existence and Irena tore her scarlet eyes from the vanishing point and stared bitterly into the obsidian ones of the man before her. Tears started to roll down her finely sculptured cheeks, liberating a thin line of grime and dust. They dripped onto her plump, persimmon-coloured lips, which she bit forcibly upon in her maelstrom of emotions, indifferent to the pain it caused her. She wondered if the military man, with one arm extended with his middle digit and thumb poised together, knew how much she had done for him and the sombre, golden haired woman forever standing behind him, forever guarding his back._

_No, Irena thought, they did not know. Despite Irena's long-harboured impression, these two were just like the other combatants. They were selfish and cruel and their very essence reeked of undoable sin. _

_Once upon a time, Irena had seen something honourable in these two soldiers, and her comrades had laughed at her for her optimism. They said that she must have very different eyes to see anything as promising as half-bad in the monsters who slaughtered so many of their people that if the blood shed were water, could have turned the desert towns into something that would rival the infamous Aquroya. She was not the only one with 'different' eyes, though. Jhey, her late sister's lover who dabbled in alchemy must have had 'different' eyes too. With them, he saw something worthwhile in it others did not. _

_And then of course there were the 'pure' Amestrians, who both despised and feared the crimson, 'different' eyes of the Ishballans, and the religion they saw enlightenment in. Now different eyes had landed a war- no, a genocide- and Irena's sister was dead, Jhey was dead, and his brother, poor, sweet Isaac whom had made her so indescribably happy, was lost without a trace. _

_"Just kill me already! I don't care anymore! I want to die!" the young woman shrieked, flinging her wavy, raven-coloured locks to and fro in rage. She slammed her battered body into the crumbling concrete wall she was cornered against and repeated the demand to her captors. Both looked hesitant, but the woman raised her gun and the man looked more prepared to make that final click than ever. Irena shoved herself off the wall and stood straight and proud, determined to retain some dignity right 'til her very end. Gazing one last time into the man's bottomless eyes, she thanked the god whom had supposedly deserted its people that the last sight she would see on the Earth would be a pleasant one. It was just a pity, Irena thought, that his heart was probably blacker than his hair._

_"I curse you," Irena chocked out. "I regret saving your worthless lives!" The Ishballan woman watched a tear being squeezed from the blonde soldier's eye, and another one well up in the basalt eyes of her companion. Irena closed her eyes in reminiscence of happier days, not expecting to be granted a chance to open them ever again._

_The man whom she had come to know as 'Mr. Mustang' snapped his fingers and the woman he called 'Miss Hawkeye' compressed the trigger of her rifle._

* * *

**Please let me know how you think I am going with this. I am eternally grateful to you if you can give me tips on where I need to improve, etc. Although this tale shall be told through the eyes of Irena, an Ishballan girl, I promise you it will focus a lot more on Roy and Riza than it has in this first chapter. I will try to update as soon as possible, but my life is rather hectic. **

**Red**


End file.
